Blues Ladies went down fighting as they suffered a narrow defeat to Arsenal Ladies in the FA WSL Continental Cup final.

Before that incident Spencer also saw Stephanie Houghton’s strike slip through her hands – thankfully the ball drifted out for a corner.

David Parker’s side managed to cause a scare late on in the first 45 minutes, with Aluko beating the offside trap and forcing Emma Byrne to claw the ball away as the bottom corner beckoned.

More Blues defending was required early in the second-half, while some wasteful finishing by the WSL Champions helped Birmingham’s cause.

White missed an open goal when heading wide from a couple of yards out, then shortly afterwards Spencer parried away the forward’s stinging drive.

The DCS Stadium outfit withstood copious amounts of pressure and conjured up their best opening of the contest, with Williams rounding Byrne, but the versatile forward couldn’t apply the finishing touch – and fired wide.

Then on 68 minutes Spencer pulled off a spectacular stop, to keep out Smith’s free-kick, while Gemma Davison cracked Spencer’s left upright on 79 minutes.

As extra-time moved ever closer Arsenal broke Blues’ hearts, when Little had to produce her very best to break the deadlock in the 82nd minute.

Birmingham threw everything at their London rivals but the closest they came was when Jo Potter’s corner somehow missed a number of Blues players on the line.

And Chelsea Weston was then called into action to prevent an Arsenal second by clearing Davison’s shot off the line.

Nevertheless, despite missing out on Continental Cup glory, Blues still won the FA Women’s Cup and qualified for next season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League for the second consecutive campaign.